Pa. ‘gurney attorney’ gets court deadline

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — An attorney charged with stealing $99,000 from two elderly couples he represented has met a judge's deadline to appear in court for trial.

Fifty-three-year-old Mark Morrison didn't appear for trial Monday after his attorney said he couldn't arrange for an ambulance to bring the bedridden counselor to the Fayette County Courthouse.

But the Herald-Standard newspaper in Uniontown is reporting that County Judge Steve Leskinen believes that Monday's delay and some related motions may be a last-ditch attempt to put off the trial that has been pending since 2006.

Leskinen has found Morrison competent to stand trial even though the attorney showed up on a gurney and claimed to be unable to speak during a competency hearing in November.